The present invention relates generally to discounting and promotion of goods and services to consumers, and, more particularly, to the electronic distribution of promotions, such as discounts, rebates and special prices for goods and services.
Heretofore, consumer discounts on specific goods or services have been in the form of physical tokens or coupons by which a consumer can obtain a discount on the price of a good or a service by redeeming the token or coupon. For instance, paper coupons are often distributed with newspapers, or by blanket mailing to residents of a neighborhood or region. More recent forms of coupon distribution have attempted to better target the potential purchasers of particular items. For example, coupons are printed on the back of store purchase receipts, such as those at supermarkets, so that the coupons target those who actively shop. Another form of coupon distribution targets the purchasers of particular items. When a sale of a particular item is entered on a Universal Product Code (UPC) reader at a store, such as a supermarket, a coupon for the same item or family of items may be created for the purchaser to ensure brand loyalty. Alternatively, the coupon may be for a competing brand to encourage xe2x80x9cbrand-switching.xe2x80x9d
Another promotion incentive to consumers is to offer special pricing on items. This is attractive to the retailer since the retailer can receive some economic benefit from the special pricing. Though the profit is less for the sale of the item, the retailer might receive repeat business from a satisfied customer. In the case of coupons, the retailer receives no direct economic benefit. The retailer is reimbursed the face value of a redeemed coupon plus a small fee to compensate for the costs of processing the coupon and for advancing the cash value on the coupon to the consumer.
Ideally, a database of all consumers would allow the precise targeting of advertisements, discounts, or special prices, being a form of advertisement, to individual consumers. The effectiveness of consumer targeting would be maximized so that promotion money is spent where it is effective and not spent when it is ineffective. To that end, producers and retailers have used emerging technologies to identify consumers and their purchasing interests. Hence, much of the modern promotion efforts have been directed as much toward gathering consumer information, as well as encouraging the purchase of specific items. Surveys using modern polling techniques have helped create such consumer databases, and computers have been used to correlate buying patterns of customers through store loyalty cards, for example. However, such consumer identification remains elusive and expensive, and the targeting of consumers remains difficult and costly.
Up to now, promotion efforts have required the consumer to take a specific action to enable his or her discounts on a product or service. For instance, the consumer is required to bring in a paper coupon for redemption. In a modern supermarket, the consumer must make a selection at a kiosk to enable his discount at the checkout counter. In contrast, the present invention inverts the promotion so as to invite more participation from the consumer. As a result, the consumer""s response to the incentive contributes more consumer information.
The present invention provides for a method of extending promotional discounts on items for sale to consumers. The method includes identifying a consumer by a unique identifier; promoting a selected item with a discount or special price to the identified consumer; withdrawing the discount to the identified consumer; granting the discount or special price upon purchase of the item by the identified consumer prior to the withdrawing step; and holding the withdrawing step in abeyance upon an acknowledgment of the promoting step by the identified consumer. Stated differently, the identified consumer must take specific action to prevent a promotional discount from being withdrawn. By doing so, the present invention provides for greater incentives for the consumer to provide information about his or her purchasing habits.